Using The Phone and Reading A Story While Babysitting

When it comes to the telephone, it is very important that you talk to your babysitter about the times when and when not to use the telephone. For instance, the babysitter should be able to use the phone when the children are resting or when the children are not around. If it is an emergency, personal calls can be made. If it is an emergency due to family or other instances they are going to affect the sitter later on in the day. Other than that, personal calls should be limited to when the children are not around and they are asleep.

If the sitter needs to use the phone to phone the parents or the school the children attend, that should be acceptable. Also, even when the children are obviously not around, it is still not advisable for the sitter not to stay on the phone for very long because this leads to distractions or if the child may need her due to anything but waking up or needing to go the bathroom. The sitter still needs to be focused on the job and therefore the time that the sitter uses the phone she will be limited to when the children are not around or if they are asleep.

Reading a Story While Babysitting

Now when it comes to story time, the best way to read to a child is to have the child surround you whether you are sitting on the floor or on the couch and everyone is sitting. The children should be placed where they can see the book as you read it. Position the book where they can see and open up each page. Read the page as they are looking at it so that they can see what you are reading. Also, it is good to use creative voices, different tones and even some finger puppet movement that way the child has a visual and sound affect with the story. It is very good to let the child point things out in a story if they see them and ask questions through the story. When the story is over, it is fun to discuss what has happened or what they thought was going to happen toward the end.

Side Sitting

She has Down syndrome. We are going to work on side sitting. So usually Myla sits symmetrically. I have seen pictures of her in which she’s not sitting asymmetrically which means her legs are either both out straight or both tucked in. I want to have her practice sitting with one leg different than the other. The classic position is side sit. That’s where one leg is turned out and one leg is turned in. It’s a great transition position to go in and out of hands and knees for crawling. She is not quite ready for it yet and she’ll probably think it’s rude, but we’re going to start introducing it . So I’m going to take one leg and turn it out to the side which…oh, heavens…I’m going to take the other leg and turn it in. So she’s side sitting and able to stay up. Now when kids are not as strong as Myla, they can’t stay up when you put their leg in sidesit. They may have to prop on one arm to be able to stay there, but Myla is strong enough…to get out of it on her own… but stay there without having to prop on her arm. Oh sweet pea! I do the same on both sides practicing side sit.